figure
Polonius
also: Полоний
The Lord Chamberlain in Shakespeare's Hamlet, to whom Hamlet gives his famous advice on treating visitors 'according to their own honour and dignity' rather than their deserts; Chekhov cites this line (misattributing it as Hamlet's own resonant advice addressed to Polonius) to justify accepting more than his book is worth from Trefolev's generosity.
Reading notes
- L. N. Trefolev, 30 September 1887. Moscow. 30 Sept. §2 (Polonius)
The parenthetical names Polonius as the addressee of Hamlet's advice within the play, not Trefolev -- Chekhov is citing the literary source of the maxim, and the parenthesis disambiguates the fictional recipient from Trefolev, the letter's real-world addressee.